The French-Italian rooted TERZANELLE is a 19-line poem consisting of five interlocking triplets plus a concluding quatrain in which the first and third lines of the first triplet appear as refrains. The refrains are the middle lines from the previous stanza used as the last line of the middle stanzas in place of the refrains.


Example by Lewis Turco:
*NOTE* the 1st several lines are numbered & lettered for easy schematic reference

Terzanelle in Thunderweather

(1) This is the moment when shadows gather (A)
(2) under the elms, the cornices and eaves. (B)
(3) This is the center of thunderweather. (A)

(4) The birds are quiet among these white leaves (b)
(5) where wind stutters, starts, then moves steadily (C)
(6) under the elms, the cornices, and eaves-- (B)

(7) these are our voices speaking guardedly (c)
(8) about the sky, of the sheets of lightning (D)
(9) where wind stutters, starts, then moves steadily (C)

into our lungs, across our lips, tightening
our throats. Our eyes are speaking in the dark
about the sky, of the sheets of lightening

that illuminate moments. In the stark
shades we inhibit, there are no words for
our throats. Our eyes are speaking in the dark

of things we cannot say, cannot ignore.
This is the moment when shadows gather,
shades we inhibit. There are no words, for
this is the center of thunderweather.